My first Magazine EDUCARE MAGAZINE SPECIAL NOVEMBER EDITION 2019 | Page 8
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SONA Group of Industries
- The leading conglomerate in Nigeria
"We believe environment is very important and when water is
contaminated, it carries bacteria unless purified. We put up this plant to
ensure that the water that is discharged is processed according to global
best practices," he added.
S
ona Group of Industries with
over nine subsidiaries remains the
leading conglomerate in Nigeria
with over 1000 staff and other auxiliary
services.
Demonstrating the fir m's
commitment to doing business with the
environment at the front burner, it
recently inaugurated Effluent
Treatment Plants in four of subsidiary
units of Sona Group, namely: Euro
Global Foods & Distilleries Limited,
Sona Agro Allied Foods Limited, Food,
Agro& Allied Industries Limited and
Shongai Packaging Industries Limited
on the same day.
Two of the
subsidiaries are being recognized with
Educare Quality Counts Award - Euro
Global Foods & Distilleries Limited,
Sona Agro Allied Foods Limited.
The effluent treatment plantswill
treat the wastewater produced by the
industries, which are undesirable by-
products before release into the
environment.
During the commissioning ceremony,
the then Commissioner for
Environment, Ogun State, Bolaji
Oyeleye, at the event commended the
efforts and investment of Sona Group
and promised that the government
would create an enabling environment
for businesses to thrive.
"When we started up with them, we
noticed they could do better and we
started engaging with them. The result
is what we are witnessing today. We
want to implore them to put up this
plant in any of their factories where
they do not have it," he said.
The Chairman, SONA Group, Arjan
Mirchandani restated the group's
commitment to boost local food
production in Nigeria,"the
Educare November 2019
Arjan Mirchandani
commitment, by the company was the
surest way to save Nigeria's foreign
exchange spent on food products the
c o u n t r y h a d c o m p e t i t ive a n d
comparative advantage of producing
locally" he said.
According to him, Nigeria has over 50
per cent arable land that is
underutilized, pointing out that the
country has no business being poor if
the land was put to effective use.
"We are here to cultivate more
agricultural produce while also
producing cheap and affordable food
so that everybody can get something to
eat. We believe environment is very
impor tant and when water is
contaminated, it carries bacteria unless
purified. We put up this plant to ensure
that the water that is discharged is
processed according to global best
practices. The key is that we do not want
any contamination when we are treating
the water. We must be careful and
mindful of the water that goes out in the
environment.
"When treated water is discharged it
does not contaminate the surface water.
We also reuse the treated water for
activities gardening, horticulture. So it
helps us to reduce usage of fresh
ground water, which in turn helps us to
balance the water level," he said.
He called on the Federal Government
to develop investment-friendly policies
and infrastructure to attract foreign
direct investments into the country.
"The Federal Government has to
protect, guard and develop proper
policies to help businesses and create
the infrastructure to attract foreign
direct investments," he stated.
He said the company with about 15
industries in Nigeria, currently employs
over 6,000 people and plans to increase
its workforce to 10,000 courtesy of its
expansion programmes.
"We are going to increase our capacity
to about 300 per cent in the next two
years because we are committed to
providing quality food at affordable
prices to the common man. Food
requires hygiene and automation helps
to ensure we reduce our cost of
production
. The key is
how do we
s t o p
importatio
n
b y
producing
what the
country
n e e d s
locally," he
added.
Former Commissioner for Environment Ogun State, Bolaji Oyeleye; Chairman Sona Group of Industries, Arjan Mirchandani; Chief Jackie and
Human Resource Manager, Sona Group, Mr. Soji Fagbemi at the commissioning of the Effluent Treatment Plant of Sona Agro Allied Foods
Limited recently in Ogun State
45
STEM
Education And
African Development
T
he current discussion of
Africa's heralded
economic growth and rise
as a world power is leading
to increased optimism and
self-confidence on the continent. The
discussion has revolved around the need
to strengthen Africa's human
capabilities to sustain such growth and
ensure that the growth is accompanied
by significantly less poverty and greater
shared prosperity for the continent.
However, the foundations of the
economic performance underlying this
Africa rising phenomenon are shallow.
It has been predominantly based on the
extraction of natural resources rather
than an increase in productivity or
expansion in economic sectors. Most
African economies and societies
continue to be dominated by the low-
level processing of natural resources
and the production of simple consumer
goods for local consumption. Their
economies have remained substantially
untransformed from the colonial phase
of raw material production and export.
Over the last three decades, a global
wave of market liberalization has
produced an interconnected world
Over the last three decades,
a global wave of market
liberalization has produced
an interconnected world
economy that has brought
unprecedented structural
changes that have placed
some nations' abilities to
master and utilize Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics (STEM)
as key determinants of
economic growth,
development and security.
economy that has brought
unprecedented structural changes that
have placed some nations' abilities to
master and utilize Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
as key determinants of economic
growth, development and security.
In the 1960s and 1970s, many
economies in South America - such as
that of Argentina - enjoyed significant
capital accumulation. However,
complacency and short-term
approaches resulted in the failure to
transition their economies to
technological innovation as the basis for
development. At the same time,
countries such as South Korea, China
and Israel consciously decided to invest
substantial government revenues in
building world-class laboratories to
support education and research in
STEM, while also enabling intellectual
work in and commercial exploitation of
these subjects. After a generation of
investment, they have seen enormous
returns as evidenced by the growth of
their STEM workforce, undergirding
their emergence as major players in the
global science-based economy. For
example, Samsung of South Korea
wields global prominence in electronics
today, thanks to a workforce that
includes over 40,000 engineers in
software development alone; and China
is able to leverage its large engineering
workforce to establish its footprint in
Africa. Some studies attribute between
50% and 85% of US GDP growth over
the past 50 years to advancements in
domestic science and engineering
competencies.
National abilities to master and utilize
science to produce technologies that
Educare November 2019